In a report published Friday, Clarkson Capital Markets reiterated its Outperform rating on Hercules Offshore (NASDAQ: HERO), and slightly raised its price target from $6.00 to $7.00.

Clarkson Capital noted, “We view Hercules' recent fleet status update as positive as dayrates in the US GOM continue to trend higher, and we saw the company's domestic backlog ticking up slightly to 238 days of versus last month's 232 days. Additionally, leading edge rates for mat jack-ups continue to set new highs for the cycle. Top end rates for 200' MCs and 250' MCs currently stands at $95k/d and $99k/d. Negatively impacting 4Q12 is increased shipyard time (22 days) for the Hercules 205 (200' MC). Hercules also sold two cold stacked submersible rigs and one cold stacked barge rig for scrap.”